Devan Ekambaram (born 25 December 1975) is an

Indian American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

film

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He began his career as a playback singer in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

films and later branched out to many other south Indian languages as well like Telugu, Kannada and has sung for over 500 films.

Education

Devan pursued his higher school studies at the

Freehold Township High School Freehold Township High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Freehold Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, and is part of the Freehold Regional High School District. The school serves students ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He enrolled and dropped out of Electrical Engineering at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

in his second year.

Playback singing career

Devan began his singing career in the year 1999, when he received an unexpected call from Academy Award winning composer

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

's assistants for a voice audition. He then, went on to record his maiden song "O Maria" for the film ''

Kadhalar Dhinam ''Kadhalar Dhinam'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by Kathir. It is based on a love relationship which begins through an internet chatroom and takes a turn after the protagonist has second thoughts about th ...

'' along with

Yugendran Yugendran (born Yugendran Vasudevan on 20 December 1976) is an Indian actor and singer who has sung hundreds of songs in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. He is also an occasional music director and host. Personal life Yugendran is the son of the ...

. The song proved to be a hit among all sections and thereafter he received several offers from many other Southern music directors. Devan's second huge hit came in his short piece mellifluous rendition in "Ore Nyabagam" from ''

Minnale ''Minnale'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The story was written by Menon and Vipul D. Shah, starring Madhavan, Abbas, Reema Sen (in her Tamil debut), Vivek and Nagesh. The film tells the ...

'' (2001) composed by

Harris Jayaraj Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi. He has been honoured with K ...

. Thereafter he sang many popular tracks in Tamil and Telugu films under the compositions of

Ilayaraja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

, Vidhyasagar,

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...

Karthik Raja Karthik Raja is an India composer based in Chennai, India. He made his debut as film composer in the Tamil film ''Pandiyan'' (1992) and went on to score music for many critically and commercially acclaimed feature films. Personal life Karthik ...

and others. The song "Anbil Avan" from ''

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa ''Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, starring Silambarasan and Trisha. Jointly produced Elred Kumar, Jayaraman, VTV Ganesh and P. Madan under the bann ...

'' composed by

ruled the music chart for months. Most of his songs are for the music director Harris Jayaraj and all the songs Devan has sung for him have received a good response from the audience. Recently, he has sung a peppy number called "Nahna na Na" for Director

Venkat Prabhu Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian filmmaker, actor and playback singer in Tamil films. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first ...

's ''

Biriyani Biryani () is a mixed rice dish originating among the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. It is made with Indian spices, rice, and usually some type of meat (chicken, beef, goat, lamb, prawn, fish) or in some cases without any meat, and so ...

'' Which was composed by

has become a viral hit from the day it was released. Two different remix versions of the song called "New Jack Swing Mix" and "The Extended Mix" also received a massive response. His latest song is " Yennai Arindhaal " from the movie

Yennai Arindhaal ''Yennai Arindhaal'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, and produced by A. M. Rathnam. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Anushka Shetty and Arun Vijay and revol ...

where he again sings for the music director

. This song was written by lyricist Thamarai. It is another peppy number.

Music direction

Devan debuted as a music director in the 2010 film '' Bale Pandiya''. The music album was received with a mixed response. Besides this film, Devan has composed for several short Tamil album songs and has also sung for them. * ''Bale Pandiya'' (2010) *''Pattarai'' (2022)

Acting

Devan has also acted in few Tamil films as a character artist. The prominent ones being ''

Parthiban Kanavu '' Parthiban Kanavu '' ( ta, பார்த்திபன் கனவு, , lit. Parthiban's dream) is a Tamil novel written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Details Adapted in 1960 into a film of the same name, starring Gemini Ganesan and Vyjayan ...

'' (debut film), ''

Unnale Unnale ''Unnale Unnale'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film.The movie is directed and co-written by Jeeva and produced by Oscar Ravichandran. It stars Vinay, Sadha and Tanisha Mukherjee in lead roles; Srinath, Raju Sundaram and S ...

'' and '' Jayam Kondaan''. He also dubbed for various characters in films like

Little John (film) ''Little John'' is a 2001 Indian fantasy film written, executive produced and directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. Bentley Mitchum and Jyothika play the lead roles with Anupam Kher, and Nassar playing supporting roles. The film released in ...

for the main character, John McKenzie, Suresh in

Dasavathaaram ''Dasavathaaram'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It stars Kamal Haasan, who also wrote the script, in ten distinct roles. Asin appears in two roles and Mallika Sherawat plays a subs ...

and Dong Lee and other Chinese characters in

7aum Arivu ''7aum Arivu'' (; ) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language science fiction martial arts film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, featuring Suriya, Johnny Trí Nguyễn and Shruti Haasan. In the film, a medical student enlists the help of a cir ...

.No Source

Discography

Tamil Songs

Telugu Songs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekambaram, Devan Living people American people of Indian Tamil descent American male singers Tamil playback singers Singers from New Jersey People from Freehold Borough, New Jersey Tamil singers 1975 births